Letter from a nurse at Providence St. Vincent: “Myself and many of my colleagues will be voting no on June 20th”

The Environment Socialist Web Web site obtained the adhering to letter from a nurse at the Providence St. Vincent Clinical Centre outside the house of Portland, Oregon. The hospital’s 1,600 nurses have been doing work with out a contract for six months from calls for by administration to acknowledge lower pay back, continuing staffing shortages, a lack of hazard pay and insultingly low advantages.

The Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) has labored overtime in an attempt to pressure through a sellout deal. The union declared a tentative settlement on June 4 that accepts the basic calls for of the corporation, together with wage will increase reduce than inflation, no retroactive fork out, minimal to no added compensated time off, and lowered added benefits. The tentative agreement brought to nurses by the ONA also does not tackle the hospital’s staffing disaster.

The letter expresses the outrage of nurses at both equally administration and the union for presenting the sellout arrangement to the membership. It also can make distinct that the only genuine way forward is via the formation of a Providence Nurses Rank-and-File Committee to elaborate calls for for a strike, these kinds of as steep wage raises, mandated published specifications for protected staffing ratios, enhancements to office situations these as assured breaks, suitable compensated time off and retroactive pay out.

We invite other nurses at Providence St. Vincent and throughout the region to generate to us about the ailments they confront as a final result of the ongoing social crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.